The 'Angelic' Side of Paul Bettany

For a moment, when he walked into a function room of the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills for the round-table interview with the international press, I thought Paul Bettany would do something lethal like he did in his role as the albino assassin Silas in The Da Vinci Code. Thank heavens, he did not.

On screen, he looks somewhat bulky as he does in Legion, subject of this press junket. In person, he’s tall, all right, with silvery-white hair, but he’s slim. And not menacing at all like he was in, again, The Da Vinci Code; with a great sense of humor that made everybody sit back and relax and enjoy an easy-breezy 25-minute interview.

His credentials are impressive. British-born, Bettany was classically trained at the Drama Centre in London, making his stage debut in a West End production of An Inspector Calls, and spending a season with the Royal Shakespeare Company which cast him in such productions as Richard III, Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar.

His first film was Bent, followed by memorable performances in A Beautiful Mind (the Oscar Best Picture) with Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly whom he would marry (they have children), Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World (also with Crowe), The Secret Life of Bees (with Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson and Dakota Fanning).

In Legion, a suspense-thriller that gives us a terrifying glimpse of the End of Days, Bettany plays the Archangel Michael who comes to the rescue of a group of people, described as “the last remnants of mankind,” trapped in a dusty diner in the Mojave Desert and threatened by crazed killers, an army of warrior angels and other terrifying humans-turned-monsters. It’s director Scott Stewart’s frightening vision of the Apocalypse.

At first, Stewart said he wasn’t sure Bettany, with his pedigree, would take the role.

“Paul has an incredible stillness that only the greatest actors possess,” said Stewart. “He’s the ideal choice to play the conflicted archangel. His work is almost surgical in its exactness and specificity. That helped make the Archangel Michael a commanding, mysterious figure you immediately trust, even if you don’t fully understand why.”

In Creation, which opened the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival, Bettany plays Charles Darwin, the theory-of-evolution pioneer. (In an interview published in the latest issue of New York, Bettany confessed that he’s an atheist. “I wish I did have faith. I think it would make life so much easier. I just have not discovered God in my life. I mean, I don’t see him. It’s not that I’m closed off to the argument, but I do feel the burden of proof.”) Creations also stars his wife Jennifer. He will be seen next in Priest, a horror western also directed by Stewart.

What is the movie trying to tell us?

“You know, people make films for lots of different reasons; everybody has different feelings about the message. I suppose in one level the message of this film is that there’s hope. For me, I make a movie, especially this kind of movie, to see how people pop up into the air when they get scared.”

Do you love horror movies?

“Oh yes, I do. I grew up watching horror movies. One of my favorites is Dawn of the Dead which has similarities with Legion.”

I guess you’d love to do another horror film.

“No, I’d rather not. I don’t ever want to do another movie with a religious theme, not ever again.”

Why not?

“Because it kinda raises a lot of questions in my mind about my religion. So many disturbing questions.”

After playing a “heavy” role in The Da Vinci Code, it must be a breeze doing a movie like Legion.

“I was intrigued by Scott’s vision as he was by the film’s premise. Scott pitched his movie better than anybody has ever pitched a movie to me before. He had all kinds of visual aids. He’s a very impressive human being. Legion is a slick, fast-paced movie that is in no way stupid.”

You look good as the Archangel Michael.

“Traditionally, Michael is the defender of mankind. He is known as the first in all heaven to bow down before mankind and he still have faith in humanity despite all the war and horror he sees. So he’s having a massive crisis of allegiance.”

Have you always wanted to be an actor? At what point in your life did you realize that you wanted to be one?

“I really don’t know. I like watching films. I wanted to write music and be a pop star. But I didn’t like singing my songs; I’d rather sing other people’s songs. I love the line that John Lennon wrote: Mother, you have me but I never have you...It’s a beautiul line! I did write a lot of songs but I never got to recording them. Before, I would go home after making movies and play the guitar. Now, I bring up children and in my spare time I make movies.”

You mentioned John Lennon. Did you grow up on Beatles songs? What kind of music do you like?

“I love Beatles songs. I love the Beatles. And I love John Lennon.”

Does being a family man make you more responsible — you know, that you have to work double time?

“No. I work less now. It’s true. I used to make three films a year. The real privilege of my job is being able to relax and take it easy after doing a film, enjoy your money.”

How is it being married to an actress?

“Look, it’s difficult talking to the press about somebody you are married to...about how great she is as a person and as an actress. But if I were not married to her, I would say that she’s an incredibly talented human being with massive, prestigious qualities and a focus that I simply don’t have. And she’s amazing in everything, very inspirational. But I am married to her, so I won’t say anything except ‘Yes, she’s all right’.”

Dennis Quaid: Playing totally against type

Looking as if he jumped out of bed at the sound of the alarm clock and rushed to the venue of the interview, Dennis Quaid was a few minutes behind schedule.

“The nanny of my twins came late,” he apologized. “She’s a great nanny, though. She’s Filipino.”

In Legion, Quaid plays the owner of the dusty diner in the Mojave Desert that becomes “ground zero for earth’s final showdown.”

A popular leading man for more than 30 years, Quaid has played memorable roles in equally memorable movies, including The Special Relationship (in HBO telemovie in which he plays Pres. Bill Clinton), American Dreamz (as a fictional President of the United States), Yours, Mine and Ours (a family comedy co-starring Rene Russo, the remake of the 1968 film which originally starred Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball), In Good Company (a coming-of-age drama, with Scarlett Johannson and Topher Grace), Frequency (as a heroic firefighter who died young but was able to communicate with the son he left behind due to a time warp), Traffic (a suspense-drama with Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, as a high-powered attorney caught in a web of deceit and scandal), The Day After Tomorrow (the action blockbuster with an end-of-times theme) and Far From Heaven (the 2002 drama which won for him Best Supporting Actor honors from the New York Film Critics Circle and The Independent Spirit Awards, for his emotional turn as a closet homosexual. 

“Because he has been such a big star for so long,” said Legion director Scott Stewart, “I think some people take his talent for granted. That’s a mistake. He’s incredibly entertaining to watch. And in Legion, he is able to play totally against type. Audiences are so used to him playing heroic characters that it will be a surprise to see him as a man who has taken several wrong turns in his life and lived to regret it. And he brought his crackerjack comic timing as well. There are some humorous moments in the script and Dennis made them all work.”

It was the script’s mixture of high-octane thrills and serious undertones that attracted Quaid to the project.

“It’s very entertaining, a great action movie,” he said. “Scott came up with an original twist on the Biblical apocalypse.”

With global warming, nuclear threat and some such dire forebodings, where does Quaid think the world headed to?

“Are you talking about The Day After Tomorrow?” he asked.

No, I said, about Legion.

“It’s scary to think about the possibilities,” he continued. “I don’t even want to think about it. I’m scared.” Then he laughed a bit.

It didn’t take much to prepare for the role that called for a lot of running and grappling with strange humans possessing unusual powers.

“All I did was remember not to comb my hair,” he joked.

After the interview, Quaid said “Hi!” to the Filipino nanny of his twins, Lucy Francisco, and asked me to send his regards to Lucy’s family in the Philippines.

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